Mobile data speed: Pakistan ranked top among most populous countries

ISLAMABAD: Good news for Pakistanis mobile users as the country witnessed the highest increase in mobile internet speed among the world’s most populous countries in 2017, according to a report by speedtest.net.

In its Speedtest Global Index, the speed testing company noted that Pakistan, with a 56.2% jump in mobile download speed during the past 12 months, ranked first, followed by India in the category at 42.4% and Brazil at third spot with 27.6%.

At the other end of the spectrum in the category, Nigeria’s mobile download speed actually dropped 8.4% and Bangladesh’s dipped 7.4%. China showed only a modest 3.3% increase in mobile download speed in 2017.

With a 249.5% jump in mobile download speeds, Laos showed the largest improvement in the world, the report stated.

Vietnam came in second with an increase of 188.7% and Trinidad and Tobago was third at 133.1%.

In some countries, mobile internet speed dropped during the year instead of improving.

The devastation of Puerto Rico’s mobile infrastructure by Hurricane Maria contributed to the island’s 39.8% drop in mobile download speed during the past twelve months.

Uzbekistan saw a decline of 31.8% and Côte d’Ivoire 26.1%.

According to the November edition of the Speed test Global Index, Pakistan ranked 89th in terms of mobile speed during the month, coming ahead of India and Bangladesh in the category.

The Speed test Global Index compares internet speed data from around the world on a monthly/yearly basis. Data for the Index comes from hundreds of millions of tests taken by real people using Speed test every month. It is updated every month with individual country data and global averages.